The BBC, under fire for dumbing down its broadcasts, came under new attack on Friday for paying a convicted burglar to appear in a programme about his own crime in which he was wounded and his accomplice shot dead. The notorious burglary in which farmer Tony Martin shot dead 16-year-old Fred Barras and wounded Brendan Fearon hit headlines across the country in 1999 when Martin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
After a lengthy campaign which questioned how far home owners could go to protect their property, Martin's sentence was cut to manslaughter and he was freed from jail in 2003.
But the fee of 4,000 pounds to be paid to Fearon by the BBC for appearing in a documentary about the crime reignited the row.
Martin's local member of parliament Henry Bellingham accused the public broadcaster of gross insensitivity.
"I'm not very pleased. He has got 41 convictions. He is a notorious criminal. He has actually reoffended a number of times since he burgled Tony Martin's home," Bellingham told BBC radio.
Martin himself described the payment as "bemusing" and "bizarre", and a spokesman for the Norfolk farmer complained that Martin had appeared on the same programme but received no fee.
Comments
Comments are closed.